A Ljubljana Autumn

Olimpija confirm a Group Stage adventure in the most dramatic fashion

For a club that is historically Slovenia’s largest, Olimpija’s European record has left plenty to be desired. The current club came closest to reaching a group stage with a Europa League playoff appearance in 2018, being swatted aside in fairly easy fashion by Spartak Trnava. The old club managed a couple of main tournament appearances in the UEFA Cup and a couple of creditable home performances against Liverpool and Espanyol, but that was before the days of group stages beyond the Champions League and before the days of qualifying rounds being more than a single tie against a minnow.

As such, while Olimpija winning two qualifying rounds of the Champions League and, in doing so, guaranteeing a Group appearance in, at least, the Conference League via the same path as Mura two seasons ago, may not feel some massive achievement, those around the club would confirm that it absolutely is. Quite aside from any competitive concerns, it is a guaranteed €3 million in the bank account before a ticket is sold or a game played. One can add a bit on top should that be the Europa League and one can multiply it a few times in the unlikely event that Olimpija reach the Champions League group stages.

Again, while that might not seem a grand amount of money in a footballing economy where prominent players now routinely find things such as ethical standpoints around LGBTQ+ rights as entirely dispensable when offered a Scrooge McDuck sized pile of money by Saudi clubs, it is a grand amount for Olimpija. It is a “We don’t need to sell anyone” volume of cash that makes their bargaining positions over such players as Svit Seslar, Matevz Vidovsek and Marcel Ratnik all the stronger. Where their best players could have been pried away for €1.5m before (and probably flipped straight away for double that), such derisory bids can be treated as such and turn Olimpija from a likely seller into a likely buyer as the summer window rolls on.

Turning over Ludogorets is not simply a big result in terms of what achieving it will provide Olimpija in terms of group stage revenue. This was a Ludogorets side that have appeared in seven successive group stages of European competition - last season, they even defeated Roma, who went on to be runners up in the Europa League. By anyone’s standards, that Olimpija have knocked out a side with such pedigree is an upset.

In Bulgaria, they rode their luck more than a little, scoring early and more keeping the game alive than forcing the play as they left with an entirely creditable 1-1 draw. Last night at Stozice, however, their result was not earned through good fortune - they deservedly beat their more heralded opponents.

Olimpija fans likely feared the worst when Kiril Despodov dispatched a high quality free kick early on but their response to this, via the boots of Timi Max Elsnik, would be reminiscent of Olimpija past.

His first was a set piece put from deep aiming for Elsnik’s late far post run - a tactic used to great effect last season under Albert Riera where Olimpija’s productivity seems to almost always be just off the should of a defender at the back. His goal to put Olimpija ahead was reminiscent of what we saw from him in that fabulous 2020 title decider against Celje - reliant not on craft and guile, but on the fact that Elsnik’s left foot is the proverbial traction engine.

Around all that, this was very much Joao Henriques’ Olimpija - Agustin Doffo in the middle has taken a step up even further as the classiest water carrier in the Slovenian leagues, Rui Pedro’s drive on the ball has begun to reflect his anticipation off it and, while they played with a naivety in the tackle early on (although it was a very poor refereeing performance), when push came to shove, Olimpija even managed to curb the self-destructive tendencies that seem to run in the water at the club.

That they did so is in no small part to Matevz Vidovsek who, for the second time in the last few months was put in the position of having to face a penalty in the dying embers of a knockout game.

Vidovsek is reminiscent of Dominik Livakovic in his penalty technique. While he isn’t the miraculous shot-stopper of the Croatian NT keeper, he is a dominant figure in between the sticks and has borrowed Livakovic’s prep - make yourself big, don’t give anything away and make the taker flinch. At the death of normal time in the Cup final in May, it made Marko Tolic second guess himself on a panenka and deliver it softly into Vidovsek’s arms. Against Kiril Despodov at the death of this tie, Despodov blinked - as soon as Despodov paused in his run up, his body opened up and Vidovsek knew where he was going, pulling out a save fully outstretched low to his left to palm the penalty away. Vidovsek bet that Despodov would second guess himself and it paid off handsomely.

While it’s a goalkeeping technique that is easy to combat (simply by running up and blasting it as the technique decreases the reaction time a keeper has), it is one that serves Vidovsek well and, as the last kick of the game, served Olimpija an invite to the millions of euros that come with group stage competition on a platter.

It is strange to talk about Olimpija as a side that didn’t just deserve a result with their play but deserved it with their mental toughness also. After all, few teams are given to mental fragility as successive iterations of the Dragons are. But they absolutely have it with a homegrown spine in Vidovsek, Ratnik, Elsnik and Seslar - four players whose development journeys have been defined at Stozice and who have just repaid every bit of faith the club have shown in them with interest. In Joao Henriques, they have a head coach who looks less like an impulse from the back of falling out with Riera and more the sort of evolution the club required in the first place.

In that, it serves up a potential title race for the ages as Olimpija face off with Riera’s Celje side - a side who are chaotic but look like they finally have the attacking potency their financial largesse since 2020 has demanded. Personality and team quality will define that.

But I think Olimpija can bask in this one achievement for a little bit first. They deserve it.